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Media
On 6 April 2012, MNLA spokesperson Mossa Ag Attaher formally declared the independence of Azawad on France 24, pressuring Malian troops for as ceasefire after claiming to have successfully taken over the region. During his France 24 interview, Attaher argued that MNLA had an international legal right to secede and gain autonomy.

The Tuareg population’s uneasy relationship with Mali has been highlighted by the media, some of whom contend that the apprehensive relationship may threaten Azawad’s long-term viability. While the newly formed state has spurred a level of contention around its legitimacy in Africa and international communities, some media, including Al Jazeera English, have argued for international debate concerning Azawad. BBC News’ Thomas Fessy suggests that the lack of international recognition and opposition by West African leaders may help to curb support for the seceded territory.

Western media, including BBC News, ave highlighted the adverse effects of the Tuareg rebellion and the creation of Azawad on Mali’s current humanitarian crisis, with more than 13 million Malians expected to be effected by drought. U.S. government-run radio news organization Voice of America has followed the coup and subsequent developments, including early liberation movements in Menaka, Mali in January 2012. An April-21 Voice of America report highlighted Mali interim prime minister Cheick Modibo Diarra’s willingness to sit down with Tuareg rebels.

On April 4, 2012, American news radio organization NPR reported on the Tuareg rebellion and growing contentions in the Saharan region, as well as U.S.’s policy reactions during the rebellion, which Tuareg export Jeremy Keenan calls in the report “staggeringly uninformed.” Growing concerns over violence and a growing refugee problem have been the focus of some Western media’s coverage of the Tuareg conflict. On April 17, 2012, The Economist reported growing speculation of weapon-wielding rebels and increased violence, including murder, among those within the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, or MNLA.

The Economist also offered cautious analysis of the successful of jihadist groups that came out of the secular MNLA: “The black flag of militant Islam has been spotted over all northern Mali's big towns and residents say public awareness campaigns about the dictates of sharia law are underway. Yet far from berating the Islamists for imposing a strict and alien form of Islam, some inhabitants actually offer guarded praise. Ansar Eddine, in particular, they say, is attempting to rein in the MNLA's rapacious fighters.”

CBC News addressed concerns over growing divisions in Mali as a result of the rebellion and establishment of Azawad by the Tuareg people. The April-5 CBC News article highlighted various unfavorable opinions on the coup and one particular reason for international condemnation of the Tuareg rebellion: “Most countries around the world have condemned the coup, largely because Mali had previously been seen as a success story of African democracy — President Amadou Toumani Touré had been governing since 2002.” Stephen Brown, a African history professor at the University of Ottawa, told CBC News that the socio-geographical makeup of Mali may have helped promote the coup: “There’s a strong sense of social exclusion [in the north] and for some, this can translate into separatist sympathies.”

Western media has also accentuated Islamist and jihadist elements of the Tuareg uprising. Some media, including CBC News, report that Islam may be an ancillary, rather than essential, part of the Mali coup. According to an April 2012 CBC News report: “Islamist elements could help the cause of independence, but cautions that ‘not all people who want independence or greater autonomy are Islamist. And not all Islamists would necessarily support the rebellion.’”

In a 29 March column, Business Day’s Okey C. Iheduru claimed that the United States government served as a catalyst for the coup, including the training of Tuareg rebels by the U.S. during the country’s occupation of Libya in 2011.